Free Republic

UMATILLA COUNTY, Ore. -- A man who claimed he received a hate-filled, racist letter from an anonymous person allegedly wrote the letter himself, Hermiston Police say.

Another day, another hate hoax… Umatilla County commissioner candidate Jonathan Lopez admitted this week he faked the hate mail he posted on his facebook page.Lopez posted the hateful letter filled with racist, homophobic and misogynist slurs. What a nut. And Lopez said he served in the US Coast Guard. It was another lie and violation of the Stolen Valor Act.KOMO News reported: A man who claimed he received a hate-filled, racist letter from an anonymous person allegedly wrote the letter himself, Hermiston Police say.Chief Jason Edmiston tells KEPR-TV News that the criminal investigation for second-degree intimidation due to the racist,...

An Oregon man gunning for a seat at the political table has joined the ranks of now notorious hate crime ‘hoaxers’ Jussie Smollett and Bubba Wallace. A Hispanic candidate for an Oregon county commission seat has admitted he faked a ‘racist’ letter to himself, though he now says he never meant to “mislead” anyone. Jonathan Lopez, who ran an unsuccessful primary campaign for a seat on the Umatilla County commission in May, had initially claimed that a racially-tinged letter had been left in his mailbox. But in an email to the press on Monday, Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said...

The White House says President Barack Obama has signed a bill making it a crime to lie about receiving a military medal. The Stolen Valor Act cleared both chambers of Congress last month. The White House says Obama signed it Monday. The measure revives a law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2006. …

The Supreme Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act today, saying that the First Amendment defends a person's right to lie -- even if that person is lying about awards and medals won through military service.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an important First Amendment case to decide whether the freedom of speech includes a right to lie about military honors. The justices voted to hear the government’s defense of the Stolen Valor Act, a 5-year-old law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have earned medals for service in the U.S. armed forces. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last year struck down the law on free-speech grounds and said the government cannot act as the “truth police” to punish lies that cause no direct harm. “The sad fact is,...

PASADENA -- The Stolen Valor Act, under which former water board member Xavier Alvarez was fined and ordered to perform community service in 2007, was upheld as being unconstitutional. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling determining that a law barring people from lying about their military heroics was a violation of free speech.

DENVER (AP) -- The Justice Department is battling to save a federal law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero, appealing two court rulings that the statute is an unconstitutional muzzle on free speech. The fight could be carried all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court...

A federal judge in Denver has ruled the Stolen Valor Act is "facially unconstitutional" because it violates free speech and dismissed the criminal case against Rick Strandlof, a man who lied about being an Iraq war veteran. "The Stolen Valor Act is declared to be facially unconstitutional as a content-based restriction on speech that does not serve a compelling government interest, and consequently that the Act is invalid as violative of the First Amendment," Blackburn wrote in his opinion. Strandlof, 32, was charged with five misdemeanors related to violating the Stolen Valor Act - specifically, making false claims about receiving...

Attention, phony war heroes: Dust off those surplus uniforms and shine up those medals awarded by eBay. U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn has ruled that the Stolen Valor Act is an unconstitutional abridgment of your free-speech rights to deceive the public and dishonor those who actually did the heroic acts that you can only dream of doing. Judge Blackburn, in a case before the District of Colorado over faux Marine Rick Glen Strandlof, ruled that the government lacked a compelling interest in abridging speech rights when it came to warrior impersonators. This is no G.I. Joke. The Stolen Valor Act...

When does bragging become illegal? Federal courts in California and Colorado will soon hear two cases that struggle with the question of whether lying about military service is a criminal offense. In California, Xavier Alvarez said during a public meeting that he received the Medal of Honor for his time in the Marines. Alvarez never served in the military and pleaded guilty to misrepresenting himself on the condition that he could appeal on the basis of the First Amendment. In Colorado, Rick Strandlof said he was a former Marine with a Purple Heart and Silver Star, claims which he used...

An organization dedicated to honoring the nation's prisoners of war and missing in action service members is outraged that a federal law against lying about military medals is facing First Amendment challenges. Lawyers in California and Colorado cases have made similar arguments against the "Stolen Valor Act," saying that lying is protected by the First Amendment unless it does real harm.

POMONA - A judge sentenced Xavier Alvarez to five years in prison on Thursday for defrauding the Three Valleys Municipal Water District. Alvarez, who served on the water district Board of Directors since 2006, also was forced to resign his seat. Alvarez was convicted of knowingly registering his ex-wife Juanita Ruiz for health benefits with the district from Jan. 24 to Oct. 31, 2007. "This sends a message to public officials," said Sandi Roth, prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Public Integrity Division. "Even if the loss is small, we will not tolerate your actions. It's a warning...

A New Orleans federal judge has sentenced a Slidell man in connection with a case where the man illegally wore a Navy uniform, complete with medals, at a wedding, according to U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. Letten reports that 42-year-old Andy Jerome Ticker was sentenced by Judge Jay Zainey to 12 months of home confinement, two years of supervised release, and a $500 fine. Ticker was charged with illegally wearing military decorations and medals. Letten says that, according to court documents, Ticker attended a wedding in Slidell back in April wearing a Navy Captain dress white uniform, complete with the...

LOS ANGELES - Local water director Xavier Alvarez was sentenced to three years' probation and fined $5,000 in federal court Monday morning for falsely claiming he was awarded the Medal of Honor. MP3 Audio: Alvarez Medal of Honor claimBefore he was sentenced, Alvarez told Judge R. Gary Klausner that he was "very remorseful" for his false claims of military valor. "I'd like to apologize to everyone in this whole nation," said Alvarez, who represents south Pomona Xavier Alvarez. (Staff photo) on the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board. As part of Alvarez's terms of probation, the court recommended he perform...

The way he told it, David McClanahan, of Fort Worth, Texas, had been wounded in combat three times in Iraq, awarded three Silver Stars and even nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor. Today, McClanahan, a nursing student at West Texas A&M, appeared in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, on charges he made up his hero's tale. McClanahan did not enter a plea and was released on bond after being advised of the charges against him. The arraignment is now scheduled for June 13. His lawyer, Brooks Barfield, says McClanahan will enter a plea of not guilty. A federal...